Water main break breaking the bank?

AP

January 17, 2011 8:30:38 PM PST

FAYETTEVILLE --

Water is now flowing freely in Fayetteville after a 48 inch water main rupture led to a three-day long boil water advisory.The Public Works Commission says 50,000 customers had little or no water Thursday when the break happened.

When the pressure was restored, residents and business were warned not to use the water until tests proved it was safe.

For many residents the advisory was mostly an inconvenience, however, for area restaurants it was an extra expense few say they anticipated.

"It was really crazy, because customers wanted to come in and eat and we had to turn them around," restaurant shift manager Jeremiah Milan-Love said. "Our owners were concerned about the customers that's why we closed just in case somebody got sick."

A lot of restaurants managers say they spent a lot of money stocking up on bottled water and canned drinks over the weekend.

Many of the restaurant owners, like Nick Parrus, say they don't worry as much about the extra cost as the lost business.

"The big expense you know is how many people," Parrus said. "If you are serving 200 people when you normally serve 400 that's the problem."

A problem he and other business owners say may take weeks to make up.

In the meantime, PWC still hasn't said what caused the major water main break.